Is Mortality the Worst Outcome After Stroke?

clinical trials editorials endovascular therapy palliative care stroke I n several of the recent large-core thrombectomy trials, we observed a substantial drop in poststroke mortality with an acute treatment.2][3] Differences in mortality were notably not observed in most of the small core early or late window trials, nor in their metaanalyses (HERMES [Highly Effective Reperfusion Evaluated in Multiple Endovascular Stroke Trials]: 19% versus 15%, medical management versus EVT [odds ratio (OR), not significant]; AURORA [Analysis of Pooled Data From Randomized Studies of Thrombectomy More Than 6 Hours After Last Known Well]: 19% versus 17%, medical management versus EVT [OR, not significant]), nor in the prior trials on intravenous thrombolysis. 4-7Mortality rates overall in the large-core trials were higher than those in these previous trials, likely due to the poorer prognosis from the greater volume of irreversibly injured brain tissue at presentation.This increased rate of mortality may be one of the reasons that a mortality benefit was noted in this population, as there was greater room for improvement.